How I Became Mrs. Watts ✓

How I Became Mrs. Watts (20)

CHAPTER 20

I walked down the stairs the next morning. “GutenMorgen!” I said with enthusiasm.

“Ah, there you are. I was wondering if you were ever going to get up,” Andrew said to me.

“You think you're so smart,” I said. He laughed. “But I happen to know that you got up just five minutes ago.” I was smug.

A smile was threatening to come from Andrew's lips. He let it loose and gave me a big smile pretty soon. “Fine, you caught me,” he said. There was a short silence. “Do you want to stay tonight too? It's such a long drive back and we do have a shower here, believe it or not.”

I smiled, he was just making up excuses to get me to stay. “Okay, if you insist,” I said. I know I should've been freaking out about staying in Andrew's house, but it seemed so natural that I didn't think twice about it. I bet he didn't either. “So what's for breakfast?” I asked.

“Well, keep in mind I haven't been to the grocery store in a while.”

I laughed, “Okay.”

“We have toast with peanut butter or you can have cereal, but there's no milk.”

“Wow,” I said.

“Hey, don't blame me, this is partly your fault,” he said.

“It's my fault that you don't have any food in this house?” I repeated, not sure I was hearing right.

“Yes, you've been taking up some of my extra time, and you've been eating some of the food,” he smiled. I just shook my head.

***

The rest of the day flew by quite fast and so did Sunday. I was returned to school Sunday afternoon after we went to lunch together, and I made him go to the grocery. It seemed I had to do everything for him!

It was now Monday morning, and I was refreshed and ready for class, and most certainly ready to see Andrew again.

I walked in his classroom and took my seat. Andrew wasn't in the room. He must be running late again, I thought. It wasn't really that big of a deal. But what if he's not here because he doesn't want to see you? My subconscious asked. I shut it up fast with, he wouldn't have invited me to stay the night, not one, but two, nights if he didn't want to see me, if he didn't like me as at least a friend. I really hoped he liked me as more than that, but one could never be sure of these things.

Two minutes after the rest of the class came, did Andrew come bursting through the door. “Sorry I'm late!” he panted. His sole focus was on me. He then turned his attention to the rest of the class and started his lecture. “We're going to be talking about saints today. Would anyone like to tell us either they're Baptismal or Confirmation Saint?”

A girl whose name I believe was Alyssa raised her hand, “My Baptismal saint is Alice, and I was born on her feast day, June 15.”

“Good,” Andrew said, “Anyone else?”

I raised my hand, “I picked Saint Joan of Arc as my Confirmation Name.”

He smiled at me. I wonder if anyone else noticed the special looks he reserved for just me. I didn't believe so, as I looked at the faces around me. “I have Saint Andrew for both. Now who can tell me why people become saints?”

“Because they lived a life of near perfect virtue,” a boy said.

He nodded. “Canonization–the process through which one becomes a saint is very lengthy, sometimes taking decades or a century to complete. Saints used to be defined by public opinion, but there became an official process in the 10th century. First, a local bishop must investigate the candidate's life and writings for evidence of heroic virtue. The information is sent to the Vatican. The next step is for a panel of theologians and the cardinals of the Congregation for Cause of Saints to evaluate the candidate's life. If the panel approves, the Pope proclaims the candidate venerable. A venerable person is allowed private prayers to them. The next step is beatification, which earns them the title “Blessed.” It requires a miracle to get this far, and public prayers are allowed. Martyrs can be beatified without evidence of a miracle because they died for their religious cause. The next step is to find a second posthumous miracle. If there is, the person is canonized.1

“There are many benefits for saints, seven, in fact. They confer honor on that person. They are the inscription of name in the Catalogue of Saints and reception of public veneration, invocation in public prayers of the Church, dedication of churches in the saint's honor, celebration of Mass and the Divine Office, assignment of a feast day and liturgical calendar, pictorial representation with the heavenly light of glory, and public veneration of the saint's relics.

“All religions have good and holy people. We just have a process of making sure they are who we believe them to be and we call them saints.

“Then we come to the issue of praying to the saints. Many Catholics pray directly to God, but there isn't anything wrong with praying to the saints. The saints once experienced the same trials and temptations that we have and they overcame them with great holiness. They are a good example for us to follow.

“A person seeking a job can go at it two ways: they can go directly to the boss themselves, or they can ask a friend to speak to the boss first. Either way is a good approach. The same can go for the saints. It can be very beneficial to have a friend who knows the head of the company, just the way it's helpful to have friends in Heaven who can speak to God on our behalf.”2 He ended the class there.

“I really liked the class today,” I told him. He was suddenly very close to me, but I didn't mind.

“I really like you, Ella,” he said in a soft voice. The words had hardly registered in my brain when he leaned in and kissed me. He was gentle, yet passionate. I had been kissed before, but they were nothing like this. This was pure bliss. I was happily floating on cloud nine.

When he pulled away I didn't want it to end. “I really like you too, Andrew,” I whispered. He was finally hearing me say his name. He looked away.

“I'm 'Andrew' to you?” he asked, “This is not good. This is not going to work.”

“What do you mean?” I asked with a frown on my face.

“Have you ever read The Time Traveler's Wife?”

“I saw the movie,” I said, trying to be helpful to him.

“Right. Okay, well Clare says she never had a choice in falling in love with Henry because he kissed her when she was eighteen.”

“Right,” I said.

“This is my fault. I should've known better. I should've known this would happen,” he said. I stayed quiet, just listening to him. “Ella, I'm so sorry. The way this is going...”

“So you're breaking us up before we even began?” I clarified.

“The way this is going, I don't think we can even still be friends. I'm sorry, Ella,” he said again. I just stared at him for a few minutes, then I grabbed my stuff and left. I felt like skipping Ethan's class, but it was the last one and we were taking our final today. I went regardless of how I felt, which was the feeling you'd get if someone stabbed twenty knives into your heart.

1http://people.howstuffworks.com/question6191.htm

2 He endedReplies